Rhea Ripley's injury shines light on glaring lack of contenders on WWE Raw

The WWE Monday Night Raw women’s division was hit with major news last week when Rhea Ripley went down due to injury. She’s expected to be out to do an orbital bone fracture, yet another injury that has plagued her run on the main roster. Liv Morgan is now not only the WWE Women’s World Champion, but also the inaugural winner of the Women’s Crown Jewel Championship. Yet, she has zero major challengers. This is a glaring issue that speaks to how the women are booked on the flagship show.

The WWE women’s division is stacked. It’s hard to look at the rosters on SmackDown, Raw and NXT and think anything less of this group. Nia Jax’s run as champion aside, there’s a building concern about how these divisions are treated in comparison to their male counterparts, especially on Monday Night Raw. Ripley’s injury shines a bright light on that problem.

This roster features names like Alba Fyre, IYO Sky, Lyra Valkyria, Shayna Baszler and several more. Yet, none of these women are positioned as championship material. The women’s tag team division continues to shine on Monday Night Raw, but it’s the same few teams getting the same matchups over and over. There isn’t a clear question around who could be the one to step up to face Morgan as her top challenger.

The November 4 edition of WWE Raw’s spoilers present the idea that Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez are going to target Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair’s tag team titles. This would make sense as Morgan and Rodriguez are two-time tag team champions. Plus, this elevates that division as the main champion on Raw has her eyes on those titles as well. Along with that development, there’s a Number 1 Contender Battle Royal to find Morgan’s next challenger. The winner of that is a major fan favorite, but again, due to her recent booking it’s hard to see her as a threat to take that title from the champion.

Within the men’s division, there are several performers that have momentum and can be seen as not only title threats but eventual champions. Individuals like Jey Uso, Bron Breakker, Seth Rollins, Bronson Reed, and Damian Priest step off the page as potential title holders in the future. The women’s division doesn’t have that because the group isn’t given time to develop angles outside of the championship picture. This is the problem that many have called on WWE to fix, and it is one that hasn’t been addressed. WWE NXT is a shining example of how the women’s division can be featured with several angles happening both in and outside the title pictures.

Rhea Ripley’s unfortunate injury has pushed her to the sideline. Sadly, much of the women’s division is on the sideline, whether they want to be on it or not. WWE’s booking must improve in this area to avoid stagnation within the division.